Canada to Reduce Intake of Temporary Foreign Workers as Part of Immigration Strategy Adjustment

Canada plans to cut down on the number of temporary foreign workers it allows into the country, officials announced on Thursday. This move represents a big change from its previous approach to welcoming many immigrants.

The government wants to make sure that temporary residents don’t make up more than five per cent of Canada’s population over the next three years. This is a drop from the current 6.2 per cent, which equals about 2.5 million people.

This decision is a response to Canada’s fast population growth due to high immigration, which has started to grow faster than new jobs are being created. “Recently, Canada has seen a big rise in temporary residents,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said at a news conference. This increase includes students from other countries, foreign workers filling job shortages, and people forced to leave their homes because of wars and natural disasters.

Government data shows that the number of job openings fell by 3.6 per cent to 678,500 in the last three months of 2023, continuing to decrease from a high of 983,600 in mid-2022.

“With the job market getting tighter, we need to make changes to make our system work better and last longer,” Miller said. This change will be completed after talks with provincial governments, some of which are worried about the pressure on housing and services from too many new arrivals. This is part of other recent changes, like limiting new permits for international students and requiring visas for some visitors from Mexico.

As the number of temporary foreign workers is reduced, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault has encouraged companies to hire more refugees. New rules will also reduce the allowed percentage of temporary foreign workers in businesses to 20 per cent from 30 per cent, except in healthcare and construction.

Minister Miller also said Canada’s immigration department would check its temporary labor programs to better match the country’s job needs and stop any misuse of these programs.

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